Contradiction

After listening to Ares, Yang Chen felt that he had no reason not to trust Ares. There was no reason for Ares to come here and confront him about the God’s Stone if he already had it in his possession.

In fact, hiding from Yang Chen after taking the God’s Stone would be a breeze to him as Yang Chen had no way of looking for him in the first place.

Although Xiantian True Qi could assist him in defeating Ares, it couldn’t be used to trace Ares’s whereabouts.

Furthermore, Ares had always been straightforward and direct. Although he was brash, he was not one to go back on his word. If he said he would give up after losing, he would do just that.

“What’s the situation specifically?” Yang Chen asked.

Ares was surprised that Yang Chen didn’t doubt him. He too, started to warm up to Yang Chen a lot more than he had before. Thus, he started explaining the situation from start to end.

Having been defeated by Yang Chen earlier, although Ares wasn’t happy with the outcome, he didn’t sit and wallow in his defeat for long. To him, winning was secondary to the actual fight.

As a result, Ares would always fulfill his promises. He planned to summon his two men from Yang Chen’s after putting the God’s Stone back to its original place.

However, when Ares wanted to make contact with the two men, he noticed that they had disappeared!

Except for the hole in the wall in Yang Chen’s garage, there were nowhere to be seen!

It felt as if they had vanished out of thin air and brought the God’s Stone with them!

What Ares realized was immensely abnormal. Although he wasn’t afraid of Yang Chen, being upright and frank, he felt that it was only proper to explain the situation to Yang Chen properly. Using the information he had gathered, he came to the bar and found Yang Chen nearby.

Having listened to Ares, Yang Chen immediately thought of the incident that had taken place regarding the Holy Grail after the banquet hosted by the Liu clan.

Earlier that time, Elder Mobses vanished out of thin air. Everyone there had no clue what happened, but Yang Chen was well aware that someone had used space methods to swallow Mobses, and at the same time brought away some kind of ‘divine power’ from the Holy Grail, causing it to turn into an ordinary antique cup.

It is certainly a possibility that the same man behind the Holy Grail, is behind this too.

However, it was the energy of the Holy Grail that was taken away earlier. This time, the entire God’s Stone was stolen, which meant that their intentions wasn’t the same as before.

Seeing that Yang Chen was contemplating, Ares said, “If you know who it is, and if you need my help, I’ll be willing to help you retrieve the God’s Stone.”

“No need. If I remember correctly, it can’t be found” Yang Chen answered.

Ares frowned. “Then do you plan to surrender the God’s Stone?”

“Whether or not I surrender it, I have no choice. There’s nothing I can do. The culprit has a grasp on space methods. Just like I won’t be able to locate you, it’s not possible for us to find him.” Yang Chen smiled bitterly.

Ares was shocked. Soon, his expression turned dull. “Which shameless fellow is it who did this?”

“Not someone I know,” Yang Chen replied, “I don’t think the person is among the ones who have awakened.”

After Yang Chen explained the incident of the Holy Grail to Ares, Ares said, “Except the Twelve Olympians who have the ability to be reborn, it is said that all other gods have been wiped from existence. However, I won’t be surprised if a few gods who managed to survive due to their relative strength, were still roaming this world. I can understand if they want the God’s Stone, but why would they want the cup as well?”

Yang Chen shook his head. He too was wondering why the Holy Grail was of the person’s interest as well. The cup was meaningless to someone who understood space methods.

Yang Chen wasn’t going to stop him from doing so. An extra pair of hands never hurt.

After Ares truly left, Yang Chen shook his head. Although God’s Stone was essential, it wasn’t enough to make him lose focus on everything else.

Especially tonight, having met Ling Xuzi whom he had failed to see clearly, Yang Chen knew that the people whom he has met were nothing compared to the grand scheme of things.

After returning to Rose’s room, Yang Chen was gazed upon by the two worried women. Yang Chen smiled relaxedly. “It’s no big deal. Someone came looking for me this late at night. I just went out to meet him for a bit.”

Rose and Mo Qianni both knew that Yang Chen wasn’t willing to confess the truth, but didn’t plan to raise questions.

Rose suddenly said, “Hubby, I’m moving soon.”

Yang Chen was stunned. “What moving?”

“I’m leaving this place. I want to move back to my previous home. The place there is slightly bigger,” Rose said.

The house Rose mentioned was in fact the one Situ Mingze used to live in. After Situ Mingze was sent abroad, the house got transferred to Rose’s name, but she had no use for it and left it untouched ever since.

Yang Chen thought for a while before looking at Mo Qianni who appeared to be troubled. He turned back to Rose with a smile before saying, “What is it? Are you thinking about living together with Qianni?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah, isn’t Sister Qianni’s home destroyed? Since I don’t plan to stay here forever, and it’d be too lonely if I stayed at the old house alone, I believe if Sister Qianni stays with me in the future… we’d be really happy together.”

Yang Chen wasn’t against the idea. To him, he would save his time and effort from travelling to two seperate places in the future. However, judging from Mo Qianni’s personality, it was going to be difficult to convince her that moving into Rose’s house was a good move.

Rose seemed to have noticed Mo Qianin’s hesitance. Smiling, she said, “Sister Qianni, you’ll be responsible for the daily expenses of the house in the future. Treat it as your rent payment. Is that agreeable for now?”

Mo Qianni had no reason to turn the offer down. She nodded before reluctantly looking at Yang Chen. “I bet this naughty fellow benefits the most from this.”

Yang Chen didn’t feel too bad to have his intentions exposed. Smiling, he said, “Just listen to Rose. I feel that you two can get along well if you live together. I’ll go back to take care of something else now. Rest, it’s still a bit early now.

Mo Qianni and Rose felt surprised as Yang Chen requested his leave. They had thought Yang Chen would shamelessly make that kind of request after knowing that the two would stay together in the future.

Actually, Yang Chen was unwilling to let go of these two white rabbits which had been delivered to his mouth. However, he felt the need to further investigate after listening to what Ares said to him. He had to find out if there were any signs left, or if the place had been cleared of it. It wouldn’t be good if the few women at home got terrified after waking up.

Within half an hour, Yang Chen had arrived at the villa in Dragon Garden.

When he was in the car, Yang Chen made contact with Molin to ask about the situation of Sea Eagles. They had lost four team members, while the others were generally slightly injured. The situation turned out a lot better than expected. After all, the opponents they were faced with were biologically enhanced warriors who lacked the fear of death.

The field outside the villa had been cleaned. Yang Chen came to the underground garage and placed the brick back into the wall. Everything looked the same as before. However, the God’s Stone was indeed gone. There were no traces to lead him to suspects.

Yang Chen sighed slightly. All he could do was cross the bridge when he came to it.

In the morning, Yang Chen came downstairs from the second floor as he planned to have breakfast. Dressed in office wear, Lin Ruoxi stood up from the dining table as she had finished eating.

Yang Chen looked at Lin Ruoxi’s meticulously tied-up bun and her iceberg-like, expressionless face and felt his heart quake. At the same time, he couldn’t help but ask, “Babe Ruoxi, why are you dressed this way? Are you going to work?”

Lin Ruoxi had completely ignored him, as if she heard nothing. She took her handbag from the sofa and planned to leave.

At this moment, Guo Xuehua who was carrying a bowl of porridge walked out from the kitchen and said, “Oh, Ruoxi said that she was going to shop for new outfits for you, so she has to go out today, am I right, Ruoxi?”

Lin Ruoxi stood by the door. She stopped moving when Guo Xuehua spoke. It could be seen from her cold face that she was struggling. At last, she bit her lips and turned around before humming in acknowledgement.

Yang Chen wasn’t a fool. It was obvious that Lin Ruoxi wasn’t willing to stay at home, judging from her actions earlier. Guo Xuehua noticed the awkwardness between the two, and intentionally helped Yang Chen out a bit as she signalled Lin Ruoxi to not behave in an overly cold manner.

Although Yang Chen was thankful for Guo Xuehua’s aid, he couldn’t help but feel that it was slightly too cruel on Ruoxi’s part.

Had the usual contradiction of the daughter-in-law and mother-in-law surfaced in this house already?

[TL note: In Chinese families, it’s rather common for the wife to fail to get along well with the mother of her husband.]

After promising Guo Xuehua, Lin Ruoxi silently walked out of the house. Due to her personality, even if she was aggrieved, she wouldn’t show it on the outside.

Yang Chen sat down and had some porridge. After a moment of silence, he said to Guo Xuehua who was peeling the shell of a herbal egg for him, “Next time… don’t treat Ruoxi like this anymore. It’s my fault. It’s not wrong that she’s angry.”

Guo Xuehua was stunned. Mournfully, she said, “Did I cross the line… I know that I haven’t set a good example. To you and Ruoxi, I haven’t fulfilled the responsibility of a mother and a mother-in-law. I really don’t mean for any wrong. But… but I just couldn’t help it. I just feel that Ruoxi has always been showing you a displeased look. It’s unnatural for a husband and wife not to sleep in the same room after having been married for six months. Sigh, I know that she’s a good child. We had a good conversation two days ago. But I don’t want to see you suffer as well. Every time I think of the bad days you had lived in the past, I can’t take it when I see people treat you coldly, even when she’s my daughter-in-law…”

Yang Chen threw a complex gaze to Guo Xuehua. He shook his head and said, “I’m not suffering. Our situation is a bit unique. In short, leave our relationship to us to handle.”

After he finished speaking, Yang Chen stood up and took a coat as he planned to leave.

Guo Xuehua was shocked. “Yang Chen, why are you heading out as well? You haven’t finished your breakfast yet.”

“I need to go to Yu Lei for awhile. We can’t have a unpleasant family dinner with just the two of us during the new year.” Yang Chen shrugged. “Even if I have to endure the scolding of my wife, I still have to bring the cold-faced Guanyin back.”

[TL note: Guanyin is an East Asian bodhisattva associated with compassion and venerated by Mahayana Buddhists and followers of Chinese folk religions, also known as the "Goddess of Mercy" in English.]